Daniel Shaffer

My story is about as cliche as it gets. I have been drawing since I was a little kid, and I don't really remember who said it first or when it happened, but at some point someone said "Hey, you're pretty good at that! You should be an artist!" And so from there I just kept drawing and my mind had one goal to achieve: become an artist. Since then I have successfully graduated from an art college MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) and have now begun my long journey to pursue art as a career.

Princess Mononoke poster

My work has a lot of influences, most of which developed while I was in college, and the year directly after. I really love video games, movies, art, and music. I would say my style developed from the exposure to all the artists I saw while in college. I am constantly trying to find new artists to get inspired by.

Crossbreed Priscilla from Dark Souls

Color and shape are a huge part of my work. I always think of my work through these two conduits from start to finish. I always like to take light into consideration in most of my compositions, but I also enjoy working flat without much indication of dimension or light.

Zebra In Turtle Neck

One day I want to write an illustrate one of my own children's books. I think that's a path I would really excel at. I love creating some kind of narrative with my images and I think that's really one of most powerful tools of Illustration. Images give a viewer a window to look through, and it's really wonderful to know that I'm creating places that don't exist within our physical world. They exist in the eye of the beholder.

Cosmic Turtle, part of an exhibition called Guts

Illustration will always be my passion and I'm excited to see where the road leads next. I give my best wishes to all the other aspiring artists out there. Thanks for checking out my work!